Sign on Dump Truck---wrong!

[TallPaul]

So I am driving behind a double trailer dump truck and debris starts flying at me from the truck, small stuff, gravel sized. I back off to avoid a cracked windshield. Then I get up behind it at a light and this sign is on the back of the truck:

STAY 100 FEET BACK
Not Responsible Flying Debris on Highway

Of course in order to read the sign you had to be within about 25 feet.

 

[The motor guy]

I try to stay atleast 100 feet behind big trucks if i have be behind one. The air they push alone is enough to kick up rocks off the road. Turn your radio off the next time you go by an eighteen wheeler. You'll hear stones hitting your vehicle. I guarantee it.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Around here law require the load is covered - TP, that is pretty funny and sorry all wrapped up into one ... Sort like the time we finally found out CALISSA was a little German guy wearing lederhosen ....

 

[Scienceman]

I would be looking for a number on the truck to call and comment.

 

[The_Jeff]

that sign may not be legally binding.

 

[JHZR2]

I HATE dumptrucks, they are generally dirty (mud and rocks), drive faster and more aggressively than any other trucks on the road, and then are "not responsible"? Give me a break.

Dumptrucks should be limited to 55 MPH max, and while they can't really have liability for windshields (else everyone with a chip will blame the closest dumptrucks), they should be severely fined for going on the roads with dirt and rocks on their underside.

 

[willix]

The truck driver is 100% responsible for any of his load or any part of his truck hitting your vehicle. A loose load ticket is serious.

A rock coming out of a tread groove or off the road is a different situation. I think my glass coverage is $10.

 

[xxch4osxx]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I HATE dumptrucks, they are generally dirty (mud and rocks), drive faster and more aggressively than any other trucks on the road, and then are "not responsible"? Give me a break.

Dumptrucks should be limited to 55 MPH max, and while they can't really have liability for windshields (else everyone with a chip will blame the closest dumptrucks), they should be severely fined for going on the roads with dirt and rocks on their underside.
Lol Severely fined for having rocks on their underside? How do you plan on doing that? How is someone going to pick every stone off the underside of a gravel truck?

 

[huffmuds9320]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I HATE dumptrucks, they are generally dirty (mud and rocks), drive faster and more aggressively than any other trucks on the road, and then are "not responsible"? Give me a break.

Dumptrucks should be limited to 55 MPH max, and while they can't really have liability for windshields (else everyone with a chip will blame the closest dumptrucks), they should be severely fined for going on the roads with dirt and rocks on their underside.


I have seen a construction site with a truck wash setup that washes the side and underneath the truck. Its kind of neat because it appears to be automatic. As the truck drives over the setup, water sprays from the side and underneath.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: xxch4osxx
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I HATE dumptrucks, they are generally dirty (mud and rocks), drive faster and more aggressively than any other trucks on the road, and then are "not responsible"? Give me a break.

Dumptrucks should be limited to 55 MPH max, and while they can't really have liability for windshields (else everyone with a chip will blame the closest dumptrucks), they should be severely fined for going on the roads with dirt and rocks on their underside.
Lol Severely fined for having rocks on their underside? How do you plan on doing that? How is someone going to pick every stone off the underside of a gravel truck?


Lots of them have caked on mud, dirt, rocks on everything from the frame to the mudflaps. It is all washable, everyone has power washers, the rest isnt my problem. The trucks are a nuissance when they are completely caked in dirt and mud. Not all of them are dirty (and the clean ones do carry loads too). Guess which drop lots of stuff and which don't?

Couple that with excessive speed and you have a problem... And it IS their fault.

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

that sign may not be legally binding.


+1.

You just can't declare you are not responsible for your actions in the public arena.

 

[Jeff3126]

About a year ago the company I work for bought a used Sterling dump truck.

I asked if we could decal "How's my driving? Call 1-800-EAT-****". Negatory.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I try to stay atleast 100 feet behind big trucks if i have be behind one. The air they push alone is enough to kick up rocks off the road.
They definitely produce significant turbulence. Sometimes when a semi passes my motorhome and then cuts back into the right lane, if he is not that far ahead, my motorhome will be shaking in the turblence. If I back off a bit more it stops.

Then there is drafting where you can improve your car's fuel mileage significantly by hanging really close to the back end of a semi (presumably in the low pressure area ahead of the turbulence that was messing with my motorhome). Of course the truck driver will get angry because it pulls his fuel mileage down.

Yeah, the sign on the back of that truck was an insult, especially after the peppering with debris.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul


Then there is drafting where you can improve your car's fuel mileage significantly by hanging really close to the back end of a semi (presumably in the low pressure area ahead of the turbulence that was messing with my motorhome). Of course the truck driver will get angry because it pulls his fuel mileage down.



While it is counter-intuitive, the opposite is actually true: having someone in your draft actually reduces drag by filling in the turbulent air directly behind the vehicle. The low-pressure wake directly behind the vehicle is actually a fairly significant source of drag. That's why almost every hybrid/super fuel efficient vehicle has the same ugly Kamm tail design--to cut down on that wake.

Cyclists have actually done testing on this, measuring drag of the rider on the front in a team time trial event. Even at cyclist's speeds, the drag of the front rider is actually reduced by having someone sitting on his/her wheel.
Strange, but true.

But back to the rock thing, in WA there are some pretty severe fines/penalties for junk falling out of your truck. You're actually looking at felony charges if someone is injured from an unsecured load. All of the signs in the world aren't going to mean much in that case....

 

[Nick R]

Had an incident with one of these once. When we lived in maine oh about 3 years ago, we were driving behind one.... All of a sudden, the tailgate opens at the bottom, and BIG rocks, like 5-6" around and smaller start pouring onto the road. The driver is clueless, and doesn't stop. So for like 2 miles he's on and off dumping rocks. Luckily we were in the expedition, so We end up following him and blocking him in a driveway, while I call the police. He denied it at first, but after seeing it he just got sullen and said it wasn't his responsibility.

 

[cbear]

Try being on the interstate and close in on a dump truck while riding a motorcycle. If you wonder why I'm doing 90, it's because I want it to stop hurting.

 

[severach]

At least you backed off. All too many people run right up on those trucks. There's no problem because the window is protecting them.

Why is the windshield full of nicks?

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul

STAY 100 FEET BACK
Not Responsible Flying Debris on Highway


FWIW: I had left myself a phone message at work with the sign wording. Actually it said:

STAY BACK 100 FEET
This Truck Not Responsible For Flying Road Debris.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: JOD
While it is counter-intuitive, the opposite is actually true: having someone in your draft actually reduces drag by filling in the turbulent air directly behind the vehicle. The low-pressure wake directly behind the vehicle is actually a fairly significant source of drag.
Fascinating! So the truck driver who slammed his brakes on when I was drafting him many years ago was foolish, I was actually helping him.

Hey, maybe that is the answer to the debris, get ahead of the turbulence and the debris will go around you.

When I bought my brand new 1985 F150 it was only a couple months before a golf ball sized dirt clod fell off a truck on a freeway and put a nasty dent in the hood scraping off paint. Of course he was flying and I couldn't get a plate number.

Then once I saw a big seim dump truck with no cover and a flattened car body was rocking at at the back of his trailer, then suddenly flew out of the truck crashing onto the road. He did pull over.

Then there was a couch in the freeway lane a couple weeks ago.

And I remember a story from the 90s a guy carrying a mattress on top of his van put his teen age daughter on top of it to hold it down. He was on a main road surface street. The daughter got killed when the mattress flew off.

There are all kinds of idiots out there with pickup trucks and other vehicles hauling stuff that is not secured.

 

[Spazdog]

Staying back 100 ft is not enough.

rocks do not bounce in straight lines.

Out of the back of the truck...bounce....hit the ground again and change direction 45 degrees and hit the side of the C1500 in front of me and to the right.

The question is, if I post signs on my car that say, STAY BACK 100 FT! NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR COLLISIONS can I drop my insurance? I mean they've been warned. I am not responsible for any collisions even if I just wrecklessly plow into their parked car. The sign says so!